Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For thousands of years the people of the Sahtu have relied on the land to sustain us and our elders to guide us. Mr. Speaker, with those resources, it’s hard to keep the good people down, even with the challenges the residents face today. Just look at the issue in Norman Wells.
However, today I am pleased to talk about the projects that the Sahtu residents are involved in to address the high cost of living and improve their way of life. The Sahtu has become the potato capital of the Northwest Territories. Last year more than 10,000 pounds of spuds were grown locally and sold throughout the region. But it’s just not potatoes, Mr. Speaker. Gerry and Monica Loomis are the proud owners of Produce North. The Norman Wells business grew over 24,000 plants and vegetables last summer. This year they’re doubling the size of their greenhouse operation, which will make them one of the largest retail businesses of plants and vegetables in the Northwest Territories.
I think as well as the potato capital, Norman Wells is also known as the tomato capital. I am pleased that all five of the Sahtu communities now have greenhouses. Residents are becoming more sustainable by growing their own foods which will help them bring down the cost of living. One example of a successful greenhouse operation is the greenhouse in Deline operated by Verna Firth. Last summer all kinds of vegetables and plants were grown in this greenhouse, and the local hotel benefited from the locally grown lettuce during the summer months.
Another feather into the cap of the Sahtu is the news that some of the Deline residents are planning to raise free-range chickens and turkeys. Deline will soon be famous for more than the birthplace of ice hockey in Canada as those free-range chickens can show up on our dinner plates around the Sahtu and maybe even on our plates here.
Mr. Speaker, the Sahtu region is not only known for producing delicious vegetables, tourism, fishing and
big-game hunting attract people in our region every year. A local hunter recently became famous for bagging the largest muskox rack. Just last fall a visiting hunter took the largest ever Woodland caribou rack in the Mackenzie Mountains, and recently a world record trout was caught in Great Bear Lake.